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1848
It was not until 1848 that the movement for women’s rights launched on a national level with a convention in Seneca Falls, New York, organized by abolitionists Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902) and Lucretia Mott (1793-1880). -
1820-1906
Stanton and Mott, along with Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906) and other activists, formed organizations that raised public awareness and lobbied the government to grant voting rights to women. -
70 year battle
After a 70-year battle, these groups finally emerged victorious with the passage of the 19th Amendment. -
Before the Civil War
The campaign for woman suffrage did not begin in earnest in the decades before the Civil War. -
1818-95
More than 300 people—mostly women, but also some men—attended, including former African-American slave and activist Frederick Douglass (1818-95). -
1869
In 1869, Stanton and Anthony formed the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) with their eyes on a federal constitutional amendment that would grant women the right to vote. -
1870
The 15th Amendment was ratified in 1870.) The AWSA believed women’s enfranchisement could best be gained through amendments to individual state constitutions. -
1890
When Wyoming was admitted to the Union in 1890, woman suffrage remained part of the state constitution. -
1878
By 1878, the NWSA and the collective suffrage movement had gathered enough influence to lobby the U.S. Congress for a constitutional amendment. -
They can vote
On November 2 of that same year, more than 8 million women across the U.S. voted in elections for the first time. It took over 60 years for the remaining 12 states to ratify the 19th Amendment.